Bryansk Region

Did you know that Bryansk Region is the sunflower yield champion? Who would have thought that it would outperform all of the Chernozem regions and Krasnodar Region? Van Gogh would have loved it. By the way, Bryansk Region also holds first place for potato harvesting. Last year, 854 thousand tons were harvested there! (It’s not for nothing that the nearest neighbor is Belarus). So, the gastronomic plan for a visit to Bryansk Region is as follows: pop a bunch of sunflower seeds, while waiting for your potatoes to boil!

Bryansk Region was the most affected territory in Russia by the Chernobyl accident (Chernobyl is only 200 km away). The region still has an exclusion zone where people are not allowed to live. There are no fences or barbed wire there, but visiting this zone even for a short stay is also not recommended. The woods still have dangerous levels of radiation pollution. Picking mushrooms and berries there is definitely not a good idea.